Best PlacesGratiot County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Gratiot County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Gratiot County ranks 1,707th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Car insurance costs pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on heat safety.
The best neighborhoods in Gratiot County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Gratiot County
The parts of Gratiot County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Alma
More adults hold degrees and local pay stretches further.
Ithaca
More households have young kids and more residents vote.
St. Louis
Health care is harder to reach and incomes run lower.
Scores across Gratiot County run from about the 11th to the 73rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Gratiot County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gratiot County ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of counties
- TransitBetter than 80% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 80% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 79% of counties
Where Gratiot County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Gratiot County
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gratiot County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,572, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Gratiot County's effective rate of 1.20%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gratiot County
Gratiot County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gratiot County.
Who works in Gratiot County, and how
Work in Gratiot County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Gratiot County
Gratiot County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 90% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Gratiot County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Gratiot County growing, and who is moving in?
Gratiot County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Grand Rapids, MI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Gratiot County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Gratiot County, month by month
Gratiot County sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 25° | 20° |
| April | 57° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 62° | 52° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Gratiot County
The nearest airport, MBS International, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Detroit Metro Wayne County, about 102 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gratiot County
Schools across Gratiot County average a C−, better than 26% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Winn Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Ashley Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- North Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fulton Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Ovidelsie Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Donald L Pavlik Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Ithaca High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Shepherd High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Alma Senior High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gratiot County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gratiot County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Gratiot County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Gratiot County suits
Families
Schools land around the 26th percentile and crime safety beats 73%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Gratiot County
Is Gratiot County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gratiot County ranks 1,707th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on heat safety, civic engagement, and transit, and lowest on car insurance costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gratiot County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $152,871. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $65,572 median income, cost of living beats 39% of counties.
Is Gratiot County safe?
Yes, Gratiot County is safer than 73% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $317 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Gratiot County?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 32 with lows near 20. That works out to about 75 pleasant days a year, more than 30% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Gratiot County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Alma, Ithaca, and St. Louis. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Gratiot County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gratiot County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gratiot County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Gratiot County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gratiot County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gratiot County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gratiot County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gratiot County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gratiot County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.